Over 7,000 Finns took to the streets of Helsinki, the Finnish capital, on Friday while 200,000 unionized workers organized strikes throughout the country on Thursday to protest against cuts to unemployment benefits.
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The protesters gathered outside Government Palace in the capital to demand the center-right government revoke a new law that forces unemployed Finns to take on temporary jobs or risk losing unemployment benefits. The bill reduces monthly unemployment benefit by 4.6 percent if claimants fail to work at least 18 hours in three months and actively seek employment.
Metalworker, Jani Polla, told Reuters “the government has let us down. We agreed to the competitiveness pact with the condition that unemployment benefits stay untouched. And now they’ve done it anyway.”
The competitiveness pact, which was signed in June 2016, included a wage freeze for 2017, reduced pay for public sector employees, transfered part of the liability for social security contributions from employers to employees, and extended the annual working time of 24 hours without additional pay.
The pact, paired with a US$4 billion austerity package, was part of businessman and current Finnish prime minister Juha Sipila’s efforts to reverse stagnation and reduce state debt.
Opposition politicians also participated in Helsinki’s rally. Antti Rinne, the leader of the Social Democratic Party of Finland, addressed the crowd saying “My promise to you is, that when the Social Democrats are in the government, we will cancel this."
200,000 industrial, transport and construction union workers effectively paralyzed harbors and factories nationwide. According to the Finnish Technology Industries, the one-day strike cost its member companies US$287 million in lost revenue.